Hello everyone, my name's Tom. I live in Toronto which, if you don't know it, is probably the largest city in Canada.I'm ex-Protestant, i went to a Church near my house until I was around 8, but we left do to disagreement on homosexual rights (My uncle is gay and my entire family is very pro-gay, including me). When I was around 10 I stopped practicing and have since been agnostic. Quite recently, maybe a month ago I read a short piece from an interview with the Dalai Lama and found it very interesting, and started actually researching Buddhism about a week ago. I'm very interested and read that Theravada Buddhism was a very good place to start if I want to choose a vehicle/school and, in my mind, officially convert.If you were to ask me questions about all this, I would surely fail, but I have read enough that I think I have a basic understanding of Buddhism and an even more basic understanding of meditation.Anyway, I hope I can learn a lot from this forum, and would like to finish this by asking, what should I do now? I have read a bit about Siddhārtha Buddha and his life, and his enlightenment, and have been only able to hold my concentration with meditation for about 10 minutes Hope i can get better at that haha, I've been sick for the past two days and been trying to get a little better at trying to clear my mind at least while sitting at home with nothing else to do...Thanks,Tom

Hi Tom, There is a sutta study forum on here you may find interesting to ask questions about different aspects of the discourses, the threads are only open for a week.but if you are interested in introductory resources there is a thread for that, somewhere, an the search function is always useful if you have questions on something, I would advise you use the advanced search button as it gives options and can narrow down the spectrum of what is shown.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion … ...He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.John Stuart Mill

Welcome Tom!Great to see that you can see value in a spiritual life at your age A friend of mine studied in Toronto a few years ago. I heard it's actually not as cold as people think Canada would be (at least in the summer).

I hope I can learn a lot from this forum, and would like to finish this by asking, what should I do now?

Depends on what you are interested in! If you still feel a bit sceptic and unfamiliar with buddhist concepts, you could check out "Buddhism for the modern sceptic". The title says it all.A more systematic approach of the Buddhas core teachings (4 noble truths, noble eightfold path, basic terminology) that mainly quotes the Buddha would be "Word of the Buddha" by Nyanatiloka Mahathera, which is available as an ebook here.

For other suggestions, you can generally take a look at the introductory ressources as Cittisanto already mentioned.

Thank you very much for the supplies and warm greetings!Yes, Alobha, I've always felt like I was lacking something, especially when I became agnostic, and this is makes the most sense to me as something realistic and practiceable. Also yes, we are quite lucky to have mild winters and quite warm summers, for the location.Thank you all, I'm excited to get started with all this.

Just remember there are NO Stupid questions, just the wrong place to ask, get familiar with the rooms here, and the terms of service for the rooms if there is special terms of service there, and ASK. the worst that can happen is a thread is moved to a more appropriate room or joined with an existing one thread.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion … ...He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.John Stuart Mill

Hello and welcome! I'm about an hour from you so it's cool to see someone near my area on here! This is a great place to get to know some awesome Buddhists and learn a lot. Feel free to ask questions and I hope this begins a great chapter in your life.

All the world is on fire, All the world is burning, All the world is ablaze, All the world is quaking. That which does not quake or blaze, That to which worldlings do not resort, Where there is no place for Mara:That is where my mind delights. (SN 5.7)

By degrees, little by little, from moment to moment,the wise purify themselves, as a smith purifies silver. —Dhammapada 239

Try the "Discovering Theravada" forum for the Introductory Resources thread that our members have posted.Wishing you all the very best with your path and I look forward to reading your contributions!kind regards,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725